Pages

February 20, 2013

What I Love Wednesday - TV picks

Sorry my post is a little late today. We had no power for half of the day yesterday so I couldn't write my post. It was weird. Anyhow, today I'm sharing with you my favorite TV stuff.

About a year and a half ago we got really tired of paying an outrageous cable bill and we decided to cut it. That decision has saved us a TON of money. I purchased an apple TV box and we went with Netflix streaming. We now pay $8 a month for the streaming and the apple TV box was around $100, but you only pay that once.

There are plenty of shows to keep the boys happy and we don't watch a lot of TV ourselves. If there's something we really want to see we watch it online. Or, we watch some older shows through Netflix.

My very favorite show right now is White Collar. (It's on Netflix.) I absolutely love this show. There are fun cases to solve, but it's not freaky murder mysteries that scare me. The characters are well-developed and I just can't get enough of it. The first season was good and the second was even better.

As for other shows, I must admit that I'm hooked on Downton Abbey like everybody else. That one got me through some of the morning sickness. I might have watched all of season 2 on a really bad day. It's a while until any of us will see the next season, though. I hate being patient :)

So what's your favorite show? Have any of you tried Amazon Prime for TV? I wanted to look into that. Fell free to give me the scoop. Thanks for reading.

59 comments:

Jord and I are hooked on Walking Dead and Mad Men. Also, you can't go wrong with Modern Family, which apparently grandma and grandpa watch, ha! If you like White Collar you might like Castle. That's one of the crime fighting shows we love.

We just got rid of our cable at Christmas time----the kids said it was the "worst gift ever". But we are used to it now---we just have netflix but I've been wanting to get an Apple Box...is it worth the $100?liZ

If you're already using Netflix, you probably don't need it. We didn't have a TV or DVD that would function with Netflix, which is why we bought it. It does make Netflix a lot easier to navigate, but it isn't necessary.

Unless you want to pay to watch something through iTunes, I wouldn't buy it.

we were told at Bestbuy that its nice if you have other iDevices, cause you can send whatever you are watching to the tv through it. any videos or anything you have on your phone or ipad and want to watch on the big screen. we don't buy anything on itunes either but he made it seem like it works well for your own content as well.

You can get Hulu Plus through Apple TV too. We use that to watch all of the new stuff we want. We got rid of cable for the same reasons, but between hulu and netflix, we are paying under 17$ which is not bad. It works for us because we don't watch much tv, but streaming movies from our computer and our Ipad also is nice with Apple TV. I totally recommend it! You can get the new season of Downton to your TV that way too (streamed through PBS).

If you're not looking to spend quite that much, you can get a Roku device at Walmart for $59 I think. We have that and it easy enough for my 3 year old to use! We love it for Netflix and there are a lot of other things you can use it for as well.

We don't have cable either - I actually haven't since I moved away from home... 8 yrs ago. We have had Netflix for over a year and just recently added Hulu plus. I gotta say, I love that the shows come on Hulu just a few days after they air on TV - like Nashville! I'm hooked on Nashville and I had missed the first few episodes on TV and now I'm all caught up and can watch it (or not, if i miss it!) when it's on the regular time.Plus, my 4-yr-old can navigate Netflix on the wii and watch his own shows too. He is a total cartoon addict!Anyways, I have not yet watched Downton Abbey and I really want to! Must find more time!

I love Amazon Prime. We have both Netflix and Amazon. They each have their strong points. Amazon does instant rentals, they are affordable, you don't have to remember to return anything, and you get access to many new releases. You do not need prime to rent movies from Amazon.Amazon also does something called TV pass. You can see episodes of your favorite TV shows the day after they air. It does cost per episode, but it is awesome if you have one favorite show. I also love buying digital content from Amazon. You can store it in the cloud or download it to a computer. We have been able to find movies and seasons of TV shows that we like for $5 per movie and about $10 to $20 per TV season. This is awesome to me, as I have a Kindle Fire and can download movies to it, or have access to any of my movies when we visit family(and can use their WiFi). The only downfall to Amazon is that it CANNOT be accessed on Apple TV. So you would have to have internet/WiFi on your TV or a DVD/bluray player/wii. Netflix has some shows that Amazon does not have and Amazon has shows that Netflix doesn't. But they are both affordable options for getting rid of cable.

We also cut out cable a few years ago. We stream netflix and hulu through a media box, xbox and wii. It's perfect for us. Hulu Plus is $7.99 a month and you can watch all of the new shows the next day. I love it!!!

Amazon Prime is getting better - have you looked into Hulu or Hulu plus -- those are both great streaming sites. I adore White Collar and Castle, and I cannot get enough Downton Abbey - what a wonderful show!

We got rid of cable for over a year and loved it for all the same reasons, my husband decided to get it again because he missed sports but we still only watch netflix and hulu+ Apple TV does Hulu+ and its totally worth it, I watch all my shows on there the day after they air it got me through pregnancy and now I catch up while nursing, its great on my phone or ipad as well.

we only have netflix as well; no cable! my husband watches soccer from his country in central america online with minimal difficulty. we much prefer being able to choose when /what to watch as opposed to being stuck on the networks schedule. Plus saving LOADS of $$!

We've never had cable and I've only gone through spurts of subscribing to Netflix. I don't feel like it's something we use often enough to justify even $8/month on a consistent basis for it. We almost always just watch network TV and the shows we like are available from the network websites or Hulu (don't even need Hulu+) after they've aired. We use an HDMI cable to hook the laptop to the TV and watch that way. Our favorite shows are Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory, Once Upon a Time, and The Office (though that show's gone in a weird direction and I think it's a good thing it's ending). We rent from Redbox on occasion too.

The only bummer is that we like Person of Interest but they stopped making it available online. I guess we'll have to wait for the DVD release!

We got rid of cable after 2 years, because I got tired of paying to bring trash into my house. We have an antana, and netflix using the Wii. That works for us. Favorite shows are NCIS and Downton Abbey.

We must be twin souls, because I love the shows you mentioned in the exact same order too. I've been so impatient on waiting for White Collar Season 3 to come out on Netflix, that I went on Amazon and thought I'd just get one episode for 1.99. Well, $28 later on the SAME night (I seriously have no respect for tomorrow and stay up way too late) I watched all the episodes available out there.

We don't have cable and just stream Netflix through the Wii but their streaming selection is in serious need of a boost. Just this week I found the BEST thing ever - stream-tv.me - you can stream every imaginable show completely for FREE!! We've since caught up on Breaking Bad and are in the middle of The Walking Dead, but they have all 3 seasons of Downton Abbey, Mad Men, so on and so on and so on. Seriously, check it out! (Totally not affiliated with them in any way, just too cheap to pay for shows and excited to have found it!)

We use the Roku box and netflicks. The box is only $40 and you don't have to pay a monthly fee. We've been without cable probably 4 years now, the commercials are so inappropriate these days I didn't want my little kids seeing them.

We have a Roku for our non-cable tv. We stream Netflix and have used Amazon instant video, as well as free pandora streaming. We love it! I like that I am saving on the cable bill, but I also like that lots of old family friendly stuff is on there - Cosby, Andy Griffith, etc. The downside for us is that my kids never say "there's nothing on" and move onto another activity. We really have to police the older ones some days.

Oops. I meant to also add that I don't like the lack of filter options on Netflix. My older children (8-14) can navigate the Netflix screens and some of the movie descriptions are less than moral. I wish they had a filter option...

We've been considering dropping cable, but aren't sure how much we'd save because our internet access is through our cable provider. So I'm curious -- do you still use the cable co. for internet access?

We dropped cable a few months ago and just started with Netflix (streaming through our Wii). I am addicted to Once Upon A Time and may or may not have watched a bunch of episodes today as I am sick with a cold and could justify lounging about! I also just watched that documentary 'Hungry for Change' so my hubby could see it.

I got hooked on Downton Abbey, too. But whatever you do, DO NOT google anything about Downton Abbey right now or you'll quickly stumble upon a major spoiler about the third season! Hopefully you haven't already seen it! It's terrible when someone ruins a show for you.

Also, Amazon Prime is fantastic. I watched the first two seasons of Downton Abbey there, and it streams super fast and has an amazing picture. We do have a smart TV, so we can stream internet directly through our TV, but I'm sure it would work with a Wii, too.

My favorite show is Blue bloods, not only they have interesting cases to deal with, the characters have strong moral values. I'm also a fan of White collar and Bones, even though they go through rough forensic scenes, the characters have a nice sense of humor and harmonious relationship.

We love White Collar here. Suits is another USA network show we really love. It's a lawyer show that kind of has some of the same feel as White Collar. I also love Castle, but that does deal with murders. We have both Netflix and Amazon Prime. We love them both, although I find we do use Netflix more often. However, I did read that Amazon has worked a deal with PBS and they will be the only one offering Downton streaming. I'm not sure when this will happen, but I was pretty sure season 2 was on Netflix, but I don't think it is anymore. I know a whole lot of the networks also offer their shows on their own sites, however, I get so tired of commercials. (Hulu too) We still have our satellite though. My husband is a huge soccer fan, and it is the only way he can legally (and easily) watch European soccer. Otherwise, I'd be all for ditching it.

We've never had cable our entire married life (16.5 years). We do Netflix and watch PBS which we get with a simple hi def antenna. I love White Collar too. And can't believe the cliff hanger ending to Downton Abbey. Another great British show is Doc Martin, have you seen that one? It's good.

Oh, and if you like fantasy/ science fiction at all, I would recommend Merlin (a UK show about a young Arthur and Merlin) and Eureka. Both are on Netflix. Eureka is about a town founded to house the greatest minds of the United States and they test all kind of inventions and such. It's a fun show. Oh and Sherlock. The UK one. There are 3 seasons, 3 1.5 hour episodes a piece. And one last one, I promise. :) There is a miniseries called North and South on Netflix. Not the US civil war one, this one is about England in the industrial age. The actor that plays Bates in Downton plays one of the main characters.

I have Prime and Netflix. I like the options for kid's videos and shows on Netflix way more than Amazon Prime. I do like Amazon, but mostly I've only ever needed it for Downton Abbey. I've heard that Downton Abbey was recently contracted to only ever stream exclusively on Amazon and Netflix won't have that option anymore. We're pretty sure we are letting go of Amazon Prime pretty soon, but I secretly wish we could wait a year until next season comes out because we usually do not watch tv shows on Sundays...

We just did this...Literally like yesterday! I was so tired of our outrageous cable bill so I said enough. We bought a Roku box and we stream netflix, amazon prime, and hulu plus through our ruko for $15.98/ month. I'm hoping for the best on this one because it's saving us $70/month!!!

We LOVE White Collar! Definitely a favorite of ours around here! We also just got the Modern Family seasons from the library. Quite possibly the funniest show I've ever seen! (I'm probably a little bit more on the liberal LDS side though, so there may be a few things that others might find offensive in that show just as a side note!)Another fav on Netflix that is just a mindless silly girly show is Drop Dead Diva. Not on my husbands top ten, but I like it :)

White Collar was great, we also liked Psych and Once upon a Time, We also watched Drop Dead Diva-cute but not fantastic, Eureka and Warehouse 13 were both good as well. Community was very funny. We're in season 2 of downton right now.

We have Amazon Prime and it tends to be a lot of the same movies as you can get on Netflix. We pay for Amazon Prime for the free 2 day shipping though. I watched Downton Season 3 on PBS' website. I'm not sure that the beginning episodes are still online though. But for next season, if you catch it early enough, that will be an option. :) We don't miss cable at all really. Mainly just the recording capability of the DVR though.

White Collar is one of our favorites as well. My new favorite is Hart of Dixie. A few others I enjoyed are Drop Dead Diva, Jane By Design and Once upon a Time is amazing! I tried to watch Downtown Abby but just couldn't get into it. ~Jessica

We have a Roku, and first had Netflix, then realized Amazon was cheaper ($80 per year) plus I do a lot of online shopping for my business and for Christmas so it was an easy choice. We spend a lot of time on BYU TV's streaming channel. Have you seen Studio C? You can watch it online too. Clean sketch comedy... It's great! Also on BYU TV is a program called "The song that changed my life." I think you might like that one too.

My husband and I loved "Lie To Me" (not too scary or greusome mysteries) and if you like Downton you'd like "Lark Rise to Candleford." I fell in love with all of the characters and there was enough comedy in it that even my husband enjoyed watching it with me. The actor that plays Bates is the pa in that show. I wish they made more seasons. It was positively delightful (and clean! Nothing is completely clean anymore!) :)

You can get a free trial of Amazon Prime for a month and try it out! That's what I did, and then I just stuck with it. :)

Thank you so much for leaving a comment! If you are asking a question and you do NOT have your profile linked to your email address, I will respond in the comment section, so just come back to check it later. Thanks!